Jenni Carlson NewsOK.com Blogging Community

Oklahoma State PA man Larry Reece had some fun in the first half Saturday.

During a timeout, he offered up a few “scores of interest.” He saved the big one for last, teasing the masses in Stillwater with, “And from Boulder, Colo. … ”

As soon as he said those words, the Cowboys fans knew exactly what was coming. By the time Reece gave the score — Colorado 27, Oklahoma 24 — the fans were roaring their approval. There were high-fives, and there were fist pumps. There was joy in Payne County.

And it’s not just that OSU fans take pleasure in a little OU pain. The Cowboys will play for the outright Big 12 South lead next week at Texas A&M.

Oklahoma State PA man Larry Reece had some fun in the first half Saturday.

During a timeout, he offered up a few “scores of interest.” He saved the big one for last, teasing the masses in Stillwater with, “And from Boulder, Colo. … ”

As soon as he said those words, the Cowboys fans knew exactly what was coming. By the time Reece gave the score — Colorado 27, Oklahoma 24 — the fans were roaring their approval. There were high-fives, and there were fist pumps. There was joy in Payne County.

And it’s not just that OSU fans take pleasure in a little OU pain. The Cowboys will play for the outright Big 12 South lead next week at Texas A&M.

Rhett Bomar might be wearing a different color, but he looks like most folks in Oklahoma remember.

Now with Sam Houston State, Bomar returned to our fair state Saturday night to face Oklahoma State. He is wearing orange these days — gotta admit, that looks weird — but he’s still making throws and still lowering shoulders. He talked earlier this week about not losing his talent just because he moved from Oklahoma to Sam Houston.

He’s right.

Bomar still makes a lot of quick, accurate throws, and when he has a chance to run, he’s not afraid to take off.

He made a huge mistake off the field when he took payments for work he didn’t do at Big Red Sports & Imports. No doubt about that. No matter what he does on the field that remains the same.

But in the same way what he does on the field won’t erase his transgressions off the field, those transgressions do not diminish his talent. The guy can play.  Don’t be surprised if he’s drawing NFL paychecks some time in the future.

For the first time this season, Oklahoma State has a healthy Dantrell Savage running along side freshman phenom Kendall Hunter.

It really is easy to confuse the two.

These past couple weeks, we’ve heard Cowboy coaches and players comparing Hunter to Savage. The shifty moves. The elusive skills. The scat back style.

But against Texas Tech, we actually got a chance to see just how much the two Cowboy tailbacks are alike. OSU used both backs, and often, it was difficult to tell which was which. With Savage wearing No. 22 and Hunter wearing No. 24, you often had to wait and see which one emerged from the pile just to make sure who had carried the ball.

Having two guys who have shown that kind of ability is good news for the Cowboys. Savage is a weapon they’ve sorely missed, and Hunter is a youngster who’s only going to get better.

Two days, two high-scoring games.

Friday night, Oklahoma and Tulsa combined for 83 points.

Saturday afternoon, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech have rolled up 49 points.

With four and a half minutes left in the first half.

Listen, I know that defense wins championship, that you have to stop someone to win a title, yadda yadda yadda. But it’s big-time fun when you have teams who can really light up the scoreboard. Sacks and interceptions are cool and everything, but touchdowns are best.

It’s like baseball. Purists will tell you that there’s nothing better than a good pitching duel, a 1-0 game.

Bah. Give me a game with six or eight home runs. That’s what I call fun.

Ditto for football games with lots of touchdowns. I know those type of games are a nightmare for defensive coordinators and cornerbacks, but hey, most of us are just spectators. We want to have some fun. We want to see some touchdowns. We’ve gotten plenty of each these past couple days.

By the way, Tech just scored again.

You’ve gotta feel for Bobby Reid.

I’ll be the first one to say that Oklahoma State had to make a change at quarterback, benching Reid and starting Zac Robinson. But Reid has been such a huge part of the Cowboy offense for the past two years, and now his role has been reduced to this.

Trying to win the coin flip.

As a team captain, Reid’s biggest role right now is on the coin flip. Sure, the Cowboys will trot him out there for a play or two every now and again. They did early against Texas Tech, splitting Reid out wide at receiver and asking him to block on a pass to Adarius Bowman.

His moments of glory are few right now, and no matter what you think about Reid’s play to this point, you have to feel for the kid. This is a tough situation.

How he handles it is key. Even though Reid isn’t starting, he’s still a leader on this team. If he pouts, it won’t help these Cowboys. If he manages the situation well, though, both he and the team will be better for it.

In case you missed it, here’s the text from my latest video commentary on newsok.com: 

As you might suspect, I have no first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to be an NFL quarterback.

Ditto for being a black athlete in America.

Still, something about Donovan McNabb’s comments earlier this week resonated with me. No doubt you’ve heard about the Philadelphia quarterback’s comments on HBO’s Real Sports. Talking about black quarterbacks, McNabb said that they “have to do a little bit extra.”

He went on to contend that black quarterbacks face more scrutiny than white quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer. McNabb said, “Let me start by saying, I love those guys. But they don’t get criticized as much as we do.”

My knee-jerk reaction?

No way. No way that McNabb or Steve McNair or Vince Young are looked at differently. No way they are treated differently than their white brethren.

Then, it dawned on me. Even though I don’t know what it is to be a black NFL quarterback, I do know what it is to be a female sports writer. I am a minority in this business just like McNabb is in his.

And you know what? I feel like I have to do a little bit extra. I feel like I have to work more hours and write better stories and do better blogs and tape better videos because my work will be scrutinized differently by you, the viewers and the readers.

Is it actually more scrutinized?

That’s hard to say, of course. I’ve received a decent amount of e-mail over the years, though, that leads me to believe that “The Chick Factor” exists. My favorite one was the time that someone said I needed to go home and bake some cookies.Anyone who’s ever tasted my cooking got a good laugh out of that one.

I don’t say this to be woe-is-me, and I don’t think McNabb’s comments were meant that way either. He was simply stating facts as he saw them, and so am I.

I believe I have to do a little bit extra, that I’m more scrutinized than my male counterparts. Maybe that’s the reality, or maybe that’s just my perceptions. Either way, those are the expectations that I live with.

Is it so crazy, then, to think that McNabb and other black quarterbacks don’t feel the same sort of elevated expectations?

Doesn’t seem so crazy to me.

Texas A&M heads to Miami for a Thursday night game.

Oklahoma fans need to be pulling for the Aggies.

Or the Hurricanes.

This is a tough one if you’re a Sooner fan. OU finds itself clearly in the national championship chase after three weeks. And yet, if it stays undefeated and Southern Cal and LSU do likewise, the Sooners will be the team on the outside looking in.

The reason: strength of schedule.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Big 12 is in a bad place right now. OU has been impressive, but Texas has struggled, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas Tech have been so-so, and no other team has notched a big-time victory. In fact, the conference might be known as much for its foibles as its triumphs. High-profile losses like Oklahoma State’s at Georgia and at Troy stick in people’s minds.

A Texas A&M victory at Miami would be a nice step back toward recapturing some of the conference’s respectability. It won’t get the conference there all by itself — Miami, after all, is a nice team, not a world-beater — but it’s better for the conference to win these type of games than to lose them.

But is it better for OU?

Once the BCS standings come out, the Sooners’ strength of schedule will be tied, in part, to the teams that they’ve beaten and the teams that those teams have beaten. OU throttled Miami a few weeks ago, and a Hurricane loss would definitely hurt the Sooners’ strength of schedule.

So, what’s a Sooner fan to do?

Well, far be it from me to try to figure out the BCS formula, but since OU will have a chance to play and beat Texas A&M later this season, I say that an Aggie victory in South Florida would do the Sooners the most good. Their BCS battle will be raged more with the humans than with the computers. The perception is out there that the Big 12 is no good, and if the voters believe that and have to pick between USC, LSU and OU, the Sooners will be the odd team out.

The Big 12 needs a makeover, and every win, no matter how big or small, helps.

With all the football gloom and doom in Stillwater, at least Oklahoma State’s women’s sports are giving the orange-clad faithful something to celebrate.

The Cowgirl soccer team scored a big-time upset victory Sunday at the Notre Dame Inn At Saint Mary’s Classic. It defeated Notre Dame 2-1 in overtime in South Bend.

OSU coach Colin Carmichael called the victory the biggest in the program’s history.

Hard to argue.

Notre Dame was the NCAA runner-up a year ago and ranked ninth in the nation. The Fighting Irish also had a 43-game home unbeaten streak.

No more.

Sasa Jackson scored the game winner on an assist from Kasey Langdon just 79 seconds into overtime.  

Langdon, Yolanda Odenyo and Siera Strawser landed on the all-tournament team. Odenyo, the Cowgirls do-everything star, also snagged a spot on Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week. She moved from her usual midfield spot to defender in the win against Notre Dame.

But wait, there’s more.

The Cowgirl basketball team garnered a spot in the preseason top 25 poll in Lindy’s College Basketball magazine.

Remember, this was a team that won only five games in 2005-06. Now, after a 20-11 season and an appearance in the NCAA tournament, the Cowgirls are ranked 23rd by Lindy’s. Quite an accomplishment for the Cowgirls.

Just because things are bad on the gridiron doesn’t mean everything is gloomy in Payne County.

In case you missed it on the wild, wild world of internet videos on newsok.com …

We interrupt this college football season for a very important announcement.

This just in: Tiger Woods is really, really good.

OK, so this might not be much of a breaking news update, but it wasn’t so long ago that we wondered if Tiger was even having a good year. You remember. When he showed up for the PGA Championship last month at Southern Hills, he’d just won the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational by eight shots. But he was still without a major championship.

Was Tiger in a slump?

Uh, apparently not.

He won at Southern Hills, claiming that first major of the season and the 13th of his career. Since then, he finished second, first and first. He won the FedEx Cup, which frankly I have no idea how it works except that Woods is now $10 million richer for having won it.

Let’s review: Tiger won the PGA Championship, the Tour Championship, the Fed Ex Cup and four of his last five tournaments.

Anyone who still thinks this guy isn’t the world’s greatest athlete needs to get their head examined.

Listen, I know there are plenty of golfers who aren’t athletes. You know the ones I’m talking about. Beer guts. Golf carts. Tiger Woods is about as far from the Lincoln Park crowd as humanly possible.

The guy runs and lifts and works out every day. He has the body of an NBA shooting guard. Heck, earlier this year, he looked more like an NFL linebacker. He was ripped.

He has re-defined what it means to be a great golfer. Things like endurance and arm strength and leg drive have always been important, but to keep up with Tiger, they are mandatory.

And that doesn’t even hit on his mental approach. The guy is a complete gamer.

Tiger could’ve picked any sport and been great. Football. Basketball. Ping pong. He would’ve willed himself to be the best. His sport just happened to be golf.

Tiger will finish his career as the best golfer to ever walk the planet, but for the time being, he’s already the best athlete going. Don’t let the creased pants or the collared shirts make you believe otherwise.